Baggage
by Cede
Summary: Everyone has baggage. But are they a matching set? It may have many chapters but I SWEAR they are SHORT!
1. Chapter 1

Baggage

I don't ownit. If I did I wouldn't put it on Fanfiction. would I?

Listening to the sentence she just sat. Didn't cry, didn't even move. Seven years. She got up, grabbed her purse and went to school. Prof. Collins was gone, again, and his aid was giving the lecture. Barely listening to him she let her mind wander, _Seven years, how old will I be? How old will he be? How long is that?_ After the lesson on she once again grabbed her purse and wandered onto campus. Without looking up she walked right into another student. He was looking down too. He wore an old corduroy coat, a red blazer and a scarf, more or less traditional attire for the students. Both mumbled sorry and went on there way. She went to her dorm room and started on the essay about the realistic possibility of anarchy in the modern world. Her final for Prof. Collin's class.

He was coming from the dean's office carrying a box of Collin's belongings. Explaining how the HIV virus had finally turned into AIDS he asked that Collins could leave. He looked around the campus seeing all the students. Wondering why he left college to begin with he walked into a student. She wore a large army jacket over her tight fitting jeans and tee, traditional attire for students he assumed. Both mumbled sorry and went on there way. He took the subway to the hospital to go talk to his friends who were waiting.

That night she got a phone call from the hospital, apparently Prof. Collins was asking for her. She looked at her watch and realized it was two a.m. Wondering why her professor was at a hospital, and in NY City, and asking for her, she grabbed her coat put on a pair of jeans she snatched her purse and jumped in her old VW and drove.

He hung up the pay phone in the waiting room after making the most unusual phone call in his life. No less than an hour ago Collin's had asked him to call a student of his and gave her phone number. Talking to the others they decided to call her, maybe she knew why he would want to talk to her. If the confusion in her voice was any indication she didn't know why, but, she agreed to come down, so they must at least know each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Don't own anything. Duh.

The sun rose over the NY skyline. It was nothing like rolling hills of her Missouri home but it was pretty in its own way. Once a friend had shown her the sky-line for the first time and asked her if it beat wheat fields, the question had been rhetorical but she answered any way, _Have you ever seen wheat?_ Looking at her map that she got a few miles back she tried to negotiate traffic,

The key work was _try_. She somehow though ended up at the address that she was given on the phone. Walking in, she asked for Tom and was sent to a waiting room. She wasn't alone, there was about six other people there. Three guys, one who looked familiar. Also there were three girls. All were staring at her. Readjusting her purse she asked them if they were waiting for Professor Collins too. One, in a leather jacket and worn jeans just laughed. She looked at all of them again and tried to place them somewhere, anywhere. The black girl looked to old to be in college, as did the white girl. But the Hispanic one looked to still be a teenager. And the men, the leather jacket one could be a senior but the scarf one was more likely a sophomore, the black, bald one looked the oldest, more the age of Tom.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own it. Duh.

The poor girl just stood there for a few minutes, looking as if she knew us, but didn't know where from. She asked if we knew Tom and Roger broke into laughter, not the ha ha funny joke laughter, but the mocking laughter that I received to often after Maureen dumped me. Obviously he hadn't heard Collins referred to as professor in a while. Yet she still stood there. So I did the only humane thing I could do. I introduced myself. Offering her a seat next to me on the vinyl couch I told her that I was the one who had called and introduced the rest of us. In a matter of minutes of talking, (and a bit of integrating) we had learned that Collins was her adviser in an individual study program and that she knew him for a few years now, all through his firing and rehiring at various colleges. Though he never spoke of her to us he defiantly knew her.

"I could talk to him about anything. He would always just listen, and then offer stoli, advice or a hug. I wanted to go to Angel's funeral, I met her a few times when she came to visit Tom, but I was abroad at the time." She then looked up from her folded hands, and staring at all of our faces she asked, "What's wrong with him? Is he going to die?"

I tried to start but was (thankfully) interrupted by an intern telling us that we could visit, two at a time. She got up, grabbed her little bag and started after him without a look back at us. Roger and Maureen wanted to stop her but Joanne, Benny and I stopped them. Shrugging my shoulders I followed her.


	4. Chapter 4

He looked so pale, so beaten, all hooked up to the machines. I couldn't believe that it was Tom. He looked at me and gave me a smile. I grabbed his hand and sitting down I told him that it was seven years. He nodded and whispered that he told me so and that I owed him fifty bucks. Laughing as a tear dropped I asked him what happened. He told me that it was finally time for him to go, and he thought I should be the first to know. I started to stroke his hand, as if he was family and told him not yet. He smiled again. I didn't realize that we weren't alone until the scarf boy (I don't remember his name) put his hand on my shoulder. I leaned over and kissed Tom's cheek, told him he wasn't going to get that fifty and walked out the door.

She was whispering to him and he to her for a few minutes until he looked at me. I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her, but she took it as a sign that she should go. She stood up, grabbed her purse and walked out the door. After a minute a nurse came in and handed Collins a $20 and I a Benjamin. The nurse told me it was from the girl who was just in here and turning to Collins she told him that the girl told her to tell him that he would get the rest when he admits that she was right about the rest. He laughed, actually laughed, only to be interrupted by a fit of coughing. He handed it to me and I put both of them in my pocket. I handed him a glass of water. Walking out of his room I motioned for the others to come in. Looking past the oncoming group I saw her walk out of the second set of doors, I went into a sprint and grabbed her arm as she walked onto the parking lot.

"Where are you staying?" I asked, seeing her red-sleep deprived eyes.

"I was just going to drive back, I still have a half-tank."

"Like hell, that's almost two hours away. You can stay at the apartment."


	5. Chapter 5

I couldn't say no, it wasn't like I had classes tomorrow any way. So I nodded and told him he could drive me, if he wanted to, since I had no idea as to the layout of New York City, nor cared learn it. He agreed and I walked him out to my little car. He got in and stopped.

"What?"

"It's a stick."

"So?"

"I can't drive one"

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Sorry, you have to, but I can still tell you were to turn though."

"I hope so."

We switched spots and I turned my baby over. Thankfully she started right up. The drive was wonderfully uneventful, as the early morning traffic hadn't quite started yet and he knew where we were going. I was told to stop in front of a dilapidated apartment complex and we got out. We walked up the several stories to his, should I call it a loft? It was more of an empty gymnasium with furniture strewn about. He grabbed me a pillow and I sat down on the hole ridden couch. I was asleep even before my head hit the pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

I took the subway back to the hospital and walked in. Everyone was still in his room, freshening flowers and whatnot. Roger pulled me over and asked:

"Where is she?"

"Back at our place, she wanted to drive all the way back to campus."

"So she is at our house? Alone? What if-"

"She was asleep when I left and I think she will stay that way."

"Still."

"Still nothing, I don't want them to have adjoining rooms at the hospital."

"Fine, we're going home in a few anyway, the nurse just came in and gave us five minutes"


	7. Chapter 7

We were all a very somber group on the ride back; Mimi already asleep on Roger's shoulder. Benny gave Joanne and Maureen a ride back to their place so it was just we three.

Roger then went to Mimi's place and conked, leaving just me. And her.

As I tried to quietly open the door she turned over, nearly rolling off the couch. Her long black hair obscured her quiet face and over-sized army jacket completely covered her small body. It was chilly so I put a blanket on top of that. Though both she and Collins told me her name I had already forgotten it, maybe it the time, maybe it was the sight of her sleeping figure but my mind was blank for and identification. Wait, _sleeping figure?_ What has gotten into me? Shaking my head I removed my sweater and went to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up to the very, very bright sunlight shining though the giant picture windows. Thinking for a minute I was back at my friend Kim's house I almost expected her birds to be singing, even though I hadn't seen her since her wedding and her birds had been dead for several years. Then it all came back to me: the phone call, the drive, the trial, Tom, and scarf-boy. With the last realization I fell of the couch.

Holding my now sore shoulder and elbow I stood up and looked around, it was even in worse shape in the daylight than in the dark. Looking at my (favorite) batman watch I saw that it was already nine-a-clock in the morning, I went to grab my purse and keys but I remembered. I am in the middle of New York City, I am completely lost, and I was lucky to even find the hospital, how am I supposed to find my way back out?

Sitting back down on the couch I noticed how messy it was, if Tom was living here it was easy to see how he could get sick. There were dirty dishes in the sink, dirty clothes all over the floor and the worse (ewwww) dirty, grimy windows. Well, I thought, if I am stuck here I might as well be useful. I started by gathering up all the clothes and put them in a laundry bag that I found underneath the sink, (how it got there I don't even want to imagine) and then I started on the dishes. I was halfway done with the windows when he came through the (I assume) bedroom door.

"Hello…..?"

"Mark. Morning. What time is it?"

"Leah, almost noon. Why?"

"Your still here. And the apartment, its clean?"

"Well, I'm kind of stuck here and had nothing better to do, but yea, it's clean."

"Oh, are you hungry?"

"Why?"

"I am, want some bagels?"


	9. Chapter 9

The two drove back the two-hour trip, she humming to David Bowie and he trying to explain the new filming techniques used in his old movie _Labyrinth_. She laughed and told him about the conceptual designer, Brian Froud, and how he was a big part of it too.

"Without Froud, it would have been a flop, no matter your black-screening techniques."

"But you can't tell me that Henson is a phony."

"Oh. He is a great puppeteer but his originality stopped at Kermit."

"Fine. But the best part was the way that they controlled the light at the end."

"No doubt, that was pretty neat."

"NEAT! It was amazing. In ten years who knows what the camera can show."

"What? Like special effects? No. They've hit their ceiling."

"You have got to be kidding me."

The two argued and laughed as her VW sped down the highway. When they got near the college town he truly regretted it being over. Had he seen himself from another perspective he would have realized that he was smitten. But since he didn't they did the only thing they could. They shared phone numbers, under the pretence that if Collins' status would change he could get a hold of her, but they both knew that wasn't the reason.

She skipped into her room and greeted her roommate with complete joy written all over her face, confusing the poor girl completely.

"What? Did they acquit him?"

"Huh? Oh no, seven years. But I met someone really sweet."

"Who? His parole officer? He wasn't so bad looking."

"Eww no. One of Tom's friends."

"Isn't 'Prof.' Tom like 35 and gay?"

"Ya, but this guy is a lot younger, and he seemed straight."

"Since 35 is _so_ old, and how do you know that? Where were you last night? I got really worried when you never came in, that's not at all like you, like me, but not you."

"Oh. I was in NY City."

"What?"

"Yeah, Tom isn't doing so good and he apparently wanted to tell me something."

"What?"

"Can't say. But this guy was really sweet, he offered to let me stay at his place for the night."

"Oh. I see. That kind of sweet."

That comment caused a bit of arguing and various insults between the two. After it was over Leah proceeded to tell her roommate (Anna) about Mark.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: All hail the Cheese Cake Factory! Your $5 dollar slices are worth it!

I walked in and was assaulted by the smell of bleach, rubbing my eyes I realized that A: the sun was brighter than normal. B: She was still there, and I still didn't remember her name. And C: the apartment was clean. Looking up and down I made a mental picture of her, I may never her again: Her hair was gathered into a high ponytail and she had a rag stuffed in her back pocket. She was wearing a pink tight fitting tank top, a pair of tight fitting jeans, and an old pair of sandals. Her coat was cast off, showing her delicate figure and the sun shown in from behind her making her no more than a silhouette…wait, _silhouette_? What has gotten into me?

Finally I found out her name. _Leah_. If I remember my Hebrew well enough from lessons it meant weary. We walked down the sidewalk on the way to the closest bakery and she just gawked, had she ever been in New York City before? Last night she made the comment that she didn't know NY very well. Was this the first time she had ever been here?

"First time in the Big Apple?"

"No, I came here once with a few friends after graduation a couple years back, we saw a few shows, you know, Cats, that sort of thing. And we went to the Statue of Liberty."

"Really? I've never been there."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, and I've only been to Times Square once."

"That's crazy."

"Why?"

"You live in New York, I mean you _live_ here how can you not have seen it?"

"So, where did you live before here?"

"Around Kansas City. Why?"  
"So what's the biggest tourist attraction there?"

"I don't know... The Cheese Cake factory. I get it. I've never seen the sights there, you haven't seen them here." Pausing, "I wonder why that is."

"Why what is?"

"You know, we never be tourist at our home."

Together we walked into the bakery and picked out a dozen day-old bagels. She pulled out a few ones and paid for them, also getting a cup of coffee. She somehow knew that I was broke and bought me a cup too. As we started back she asked me how I knew Collins. So I told her and described the rest of the group for her. Nodding, she put a face to each one, when I got to me she smiled. I love to see her smile.

When we got back to the loft she smiled again, we were outside the door. I smiled back. _What's going on man? You didn't know her name an hour ago and now you are smiling!_ I slid open the door to be interrupted by Roger throwing his clothes around. In the matter of a half an hour he had somehow completely up ended the apartment. His boxers re-took their residence on a lamp and everything else went back to where they were. Leah barely missed a dirty sock that was headed for her head. Slowly I got madder and madder, right before I exploded she started to laugh. I looked at her to see her double over.

"What's wrong?"

"What else? He obviously can't live without his appropriate lighting!" She giggled as she pointed to the lampshades' covers (a red & white poka-dotted boxers that Angel got him for his birthday and a pair of Mimi's socks)

I couldn't help but chuckle myself. Roger looked at both of us, shrugged his shoulders and went back to digging through the laundry bag.

"So would you help me out of NY? I have a paper due Monday and I only have four pages done." She asked me, readjusting her purse.

"Umm. Ok. Do you mind if we leave after breakfast though? I am still really hungry."

"I meant after- I mean that's why we went to- ok."


	11. Chapter 11

Spring turned into summer and she left, so that the following fall she could return and graduate. Her job search led her to another internship, this time at _Teen Voge_. Her job was to basically help with every little whim. She really enjoyed it though and had received offers from her to work after she graduated. She had stayed at a friend's house for a few weeks until they were evicted, something about refusal to pay rent. So, Leah was truly lost in ways of where to stay. Until something very unexpected happened. Her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, its Mark."

"Oh hi,"

"Collins told me you visited him."

"Yea, he's looking a lot better."

"Well. Not as bad. He told me you were kind of put-out on housing."

"Oh its nothing, I will probably just have to go back out west for the rest of the summer."

"Oh, well I was thinking, if you still wanted to work there you could stay at our place, the hospital is talking about sending Collins home, and if you don't want to stay with us guys, Mimi says she has an extra room."

"Mimi? Which girl?"

"The one with brown hair. The dancer."

"Ok, well I don't know, that's really sweet, Mark, umm…I'll call you back on that."

"Ok, I got to go, bye."

"Bye."

She smiled, he had called her! Throwing herself into various fantasies she imagined Mark holding her hand, kissing her cheek, making love to her. But reality came crashing back and she realized it was probably Tom's idea, she had told him about it the other day on one of her visits. But still, it wasn't like laughing leather jacket had called her, or the lawyer. It was Mark. May be she would take him up on the idea of staying with the dancer. She just might see him in the hallway or on the staircase. With a new skip in her step she ran the rest of her errands, even stopping to gossip with the make-up girls at Sears.


	12. Chapter 12

Within three days Leah was bringing in her stuff up to the dancer's loft. It had only taken one day for her to decide that she needed to have some place more permanent that her motel room and it had only taken two days for her to get the nerve to call back. Smiling, she started to whistle as she carried up her last box, she only had a few boxes, and one was just textbooks. The dancer, Mimi, asked if she could help unpack. Nodding Leah started on her own. She was to help pay for the groceries but not the rent, supposedly they had a deal with the landlord. Leah didn't mind, any money she had left at the end of the week was great. Though scholarships paid for most of her tuition fees, she still had to have books and food.

"Oh, who is this?" Mimi was holding up an old picture frame with no glass. Reaching for it Leah replied.

"Me and my old boy-friend."

"Ex? Then why do you still have it?"

"He isn't really an ex, he's just-" She was cut off by Laughing Leather Jacket in the doorway. She had since learned his name was Roger, but that didn't mean she forgave him for laughing at her. He walked in and kissed Mimi's cheek, she blushed and put down the photo. They started to whisper to each other. Snatching the picture from on top of the box Leah put it with some of her books and carried them all to her new room. Sitting down on the bed she sighed, that was too close, it was too soon for her to give up the photo, or to explain it. Brushing her hand across the picture she was thrown back- back to when they were all that the other needed.

"Do you love me?" They were sitting on top of the stands looking across the soybean field that grew next to the football field. Their senior year was ending, though he still had on his letter jacket-MO weather made the temp. around 61 degrees.

"Now what kind of question is that?"

"Its just everything is changing, your going to CMSU, I'm going to Colombia, are we really going to make it?"

"Now you sound like a girl! What's gotten into you? Those are the questions I'm supposed to be asking."

"Come on, I'm being fuckin serious."

"Yes I love you, for some strange reason I love you."

It was only a year later when his mother had called her. The next semester she moved to NY without a look back.

She put the photo in a drawer and went back to unpacking. Walking back into the living room she saw Roger arguing with Mimi, something about her still working. He stormed out of the room and Mimi crumpled on to the couch with red eyes.

"What's wrong?" Leah sat next to her and rested her hand on her knee.

"Men are just idiots, stupid selfish idiots!" With that she threw a pillow at the door.

"Yes they are, they all are, but why him in particular?"

"He wants me to quit dancing and go back to school."

"Well, what's so wrong with that?"

"For him its not a when, it's a now."

"Oh. Well, its not so bad, school that is."

"Oh yes it is, for me it is."

"What if-" Mimi yelled cutting off Leah,

"IT'S OKAY LEAVE IT!"

"Ok, ok."

They went back to unpacking with only an occasional sniffle from Mimi. Leah looked at her, she was about 20, the same age as her sister, Jane, but they were so different. Mimi had already lived a life, Jane was just starting hers, Mimi understood, Jane was clueless.


	13. Chapter 13

A whole week went by before he saw her. She had to take the subway to work every morning, and before that she liked to visit Collins, so she left early. On Wednesday she was carrying groceries up the stairs when he was coming down. Her hair was down and she looked so calm, he had his bike on his shoulder so it wasn't like he could stop and talk. Stopping to open the door, she looked back at him and smiled. As she walked in he tripped over his feet and fell down the remaining four steps. Getting up he cursed himself for being so damn clumsy and ran his errands. _How are going to ever get near her if you're in a fuckin body cast!_

That Friday they all met up at Life Café for their usual get together. He got the nerve up to ask her, with several shoves by Roger. One conversation for example went something like:

"You should ask her." Roger was sitting on the couch reading the Voice.

"She would only say no." Mark was cleaning out an old camera he found at thrift mart.

"Why?"

"She and I are different." As he took off the lenses to check out the scratches.

"How?" Not even looking up.

"She is in college. She has money, for God's sake! Did I tell you what she gave me on that first night?"

Finally looking up from his article, "What?"

"A hundred dollars, she had bet Collins fifty and gave him twenty, and gave me a Benjamin. She just has money, she is different from us."

"A hundred dollars? Where did she get that?"

"I don't know. Like I said, she would probably get a long better with Benny than me."

"That explains the books Mimi was unpacking…"

"Huh?"

"When she first came here Mimi was helping her and she had a bunch of business books in a box when I came in."

"See! We could never be together."

"Then why is she staying here?"

He approached her and Mimi's door with a lot of apprehension slowly lifting his hand up to the door it came sliding open. A very startled Leah looked up at him.

"Are you busy?" Suddenly Mark felt like he was in Jr. High asking a girl to the dance.

"No, not really, you need Mimi?"

"No, umm we all kind of get together at this café, and I was wondering if you would like to come."

"Sure, what day?"

"Friday?"

"Ok, no problem. Got to go, hasta lueago!"

"Bye."

She went past him and down the stairs and he just stared off into space, _Thank God. Its over._

Now it was Friday and they all were eating, as the orders went around she just had salad, and when alcohol was passed out she only got a glass of water. All of Marks fears came back to him, she really was different than all of them, and she didn't even realize it.

Afterwards they all were walking home, making even more noise outside than inside. Roger was officially intoxicated and had started to tell Leah about the art of playing the guitar; the non-drunk Leah just nodded and laughed when appropriate. Mark fell back to talk to Mimi about living with Leah.

"So what's she like?"

"Why?"

"Come on, you know."

"Really quiet she doesn't say that much about anything except how the DOW is doing."

"I knew it."

"What?"

"She's all business, I'm not, we could never be together."

"So? Maureen and Joanne seem pretty happy."

"I guess…"


	14. Chapter 14

An: stock rar comes from another story called Sweet Revenge by Girl Who Writes. Read it and you will understand it.

The dinner at Life Café was even more fun than she could even imagine. The last time she had even seen a chugging competition was in high school, at a jazz band party between the trombone, trumpet and conductors son and even then it was non-alcoholic. If only the C.S. could go against Roger, it would be a battle to the bloody end. There was more than just the apartment group; there were people Leah had never even seen before.

One thing was for certain was that they all were Bohemian. They all had this way about them that was so unusual for her. Drinking was for sport amongst them, not the forget-the-week drinking that she was used to. True at college often kegers were thrown but that didn't mean that she ever attended them. Seeing a bunch of frat boys getting drunk, or stoned, or whatever the case may be was not something that she wanted to remember from her college experience.

And they treated everything differently, like it might be the last time. She had heard the 'live every day as your last speech' for as long as she could remember, but she had never seen it so exemplified in any one as she had seen among these people. Throughout the entire experience she kept stealing glances at Mark, he didn't seem much like them. While they honestly could have less a care in the world, his brows were furrowed like normal.

As the night progressed a whole passel of beepers went off and almost every one took some medication. Staying with Mimi taught her that it was AZT. Looking around she noticed that only a few people didn't take it, Mark and she being among them.

Mark seemed to be distanced from the entire event like he was watching it on TV. He didn't get drunk, or eat the tofu (of course neither did she, but growing up around a hippie aunt had taught her the very few ways tofu could be enjoyed and the menu had none of them) When jokes went around about the president, the mayor, and the prime minister (only one guy told that, but every one laughed) his laughter was delayed, and he never told one. His smile was forced to the point that even Roger noticed; his solution of course was another round of beer.

On the way home she was captured by Roger and was educated (not for the last time) about what part of the sole went into playing the guitar. When they got back to the apartments both girls sat down on the couch, recalling the night. Mimi told her about once, when Angel was alive, how the danced and actually sang on top of the tables. It was before the Virtual Recording studio was built, and how it was all in celebration of the failed protest against it.

"I had never seen every one as happy as they were then. Everybody forgot the whole world. We just were in that moment."

"Even Tom and Mark?"

"Especially those two. They are both so serious, except then, and when. Well never mind"

"What?"

"Just, well the crowd you see has shrunk, a lot. Benny was right. Bohemia is dying."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but your Calcutta is winning."

"_My_ Calcutta?"

"You know, business, enterprise, corporate world. Calcutta."

"I am business?"

"Yea. Artist and individuals are shrinking and dieing out."

"Oh."

They talked for the rest of the night, about everything and absolutely nothing at all. They talked about how stupid the President really was, who had died, and who was dieing. Leah used her skill by keeping the subject away from her past, an area that she had a lot of practice in. Until Mimi went straight at it.

"Why are you here?"

"I was kind of homeless, I needed a place for the summer at least."

"That's not what I meant. You aren't bohemian. You're not even eastern. And you take business classes for Christ sake. You really don't belong here."

"I wasn't always business. You know."

"Really? What were you then?"

"I painted."

"Like paintings paint? Or house paint?"

"Murals, Portraits, that sort of thing. I majored in Art for one semester then I moved out here."

"Were you good?"

"I don't know, I guess."

"Then why did you quit?"

"Lets just say my muse died."

"Oh. Did I tell you the time when the costume shop closed down?"

"No. What happened?"

"Well Collins had a new bag of stuff, and me and Maureen-"

"Maureen and I."

"Right. Maureen and _I_ bought a whole lot of the costumes and the stoli and joints were passed around…"

It was four a.m. when the two girls went to sleep, Mimi excited about the new information gleamed from Leah. And Leah content that she avoided the subject again, also wondering if Roger remembered wanting to be a stock rar.


End file.
